123 Kolkata: An incident of moral policing escalated into a political clash in Dum Dum Park on Tuesday night. Police said a girl was chatting with her friend Kaushik Sarkar (18), a resident of Belgachhia, on their way back from a private tuition when two men who knew the girl's family confronted them and started abusing Sarkar for walking closely with her. They even threatened to call her parents. When the two asked the men to mind their own business, they thrashed Sarkar and pushed the girl. The men were seen entering a nearby guest house.
Battered and bruised, the Sarkar and the girl approached the local councillor, who has an office near the area where the assault took place. The councillor, Biswajit Prasad, took the duo to the police station and lodged an official complaint against the men.
Later in the night, police raided the hotel the men were seen entering and arrested Subhamoy Bhattacharya and Abhro Bar. Bhattacharya told the police he was celebrating his birthday at the hotel with a few of his friends.
Prasad, however, alleged that a sleaze racket was operational at the hotel and that the arrested duo was part of it. "When the girl and the boy complained to me about the assault and showed me the photographs of the two men who beat them, my party workers identified them, and I got hold of their phone numbers. I called one of them and asked why they beat up the duo. But the man misbehaved with me. I then raised the issue with the police. When the police raided the hotel, I accompanied them and found two minor women with a group of boys, and it looked like there was some illicit work going on. I slapped one of the boys," said Prasad.
Amarjit Jha, the owner of the hotel, who also happens to be a BJP functionary, denied allegations of any illicit work at the hotel and claimed a matter of assault was escalated into a political controversy. "The arrested men came here as customers and booked a room to celebrate a birthday. If they misbehave with women outside the hotel and then get in the room, how can we be held accountable?" Jha asked.